Travellers

Ring, bells,ring,ring! Sing, choirs,sing,sing,sing! When he comes, when he comes, who will make him welcome. TIS 283
They will all travel in the next day or so. - Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men - people returning home to be counted -   all heading in the same direction and we too have been caught up in the expectation  and travel with them. Mary and Joseph are travelling to Bethlehem to 'be counted' unaware that their baby Jesus would be born there. The shepherds will be travelling because of an encounter with a whole host of heavenly angels on a hillside in the night and the wise men who will be actually travelling to worship a long expected king, bringing gifts. What are we thinking as we are travelling towards the celebration of Christmas that marks the birth of our Saviour and King, Jesus. As we grapple with the tinsel to go on the tree, the crowds at the shops and the last minute gift buying amid it all are we travelling to celebrate Jesus birth -  are we remembering why we want to celebrate?
Journey ends;where afar Bethlehem shines, like a star, stable door stands ajar. (TIS 283)

Manger Square Bethlehem 

A star

' How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns.' Isa 52:7
I think I have already received the most treasured Christmas present for this year. One of the children at church walked up to me during the greeting of the peace and placing  her small hand in mine she looked up  and as she passed a small red star into my hand  she said. 'This is for you, to remind you that Christmas is coming.' She is all of four years old!  I read this saying today: Christmas is a gift from God that we can not keep unless we give it to someone else.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

" The word became flesh and dwelt among us" Plaque in the church of the Nativity Bethlehem 

ordinary to extraordinary!

While Shepherds watched their flock by night. (Christmas Carol)
I remember standing in shepherds field outside  Bethlehem and picturing a scene of the shepherds and their sheep on what was an ordinary night for them but God chose to make it an extraordinary night. Lucado says( paraphrased) : The sheep were ordinary. Some fat, some scrawny. Some with barrel bellies. Some with twiggy legs. Common animals.They were simply sheep - lumpy, sleeping silhouettes on a hillside. And the shepherds. Peasants they were, nameless in the Christmas story, probably wearing the only clothes they had and smelling like sheep.. Had God not chosen to make this night extraordinary then the sheep and shepherds would have slept the night away. BUT, 'God dances amidst the common and that night he did a waltz!' Silent sheep woke with curiosity and shepherds rubbed their eyes at the sight of angels and the night was no longer ordinary.  So often I reflect on how the angels came to bring good news  to the common peasant shepherds, alone in the dark, sleeping in the open and I think of the ministry of many of us among the isolated,disconnected, living in the  darkness of their situation  and how that ministry is often described as 'of angels.' The angels came to the shepherds in the night because that is when the light is best seen and is most needed.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Anne, servant of the Lord

Entrance to the chapel on Shepherds Field.

Advent angels

O come, O dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by your advent here. TIS 265
Scattered around the seats of the congregation are the angels from the Christmas story. Angles proclaiming the coming of the Christ, the king, the saviour. They remind us that something is about to happen, they carry with their presence a message. When I go out for an evening walk at this time of the year I absolutely delight in seeing what people have put around their homes that proclaim Christmas is coming. The lights that cover the roof of homes, the lights in the gardens and the sight of the Christmas tree lit up in the front room of homes or the view of it through open doors. We do lots of things to proclaim the coming of Christmas that generate that expectation, that waiting, that knowing that something is coming, something is about to happen. During Advent may we reflect on the great gift it is to us all to have the Saviour Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives and may we always be prepared for that second coming.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Touch a flower

O Lord our God, your greatness is seen in all the world. Psalm 8:1
I always feel that oneness with God and all creation when I stop and touch a flower and raise its stem to my face and smell its perfume of sheer delight. Its a heaven sent blessing.  I read these lovely thoughts by a Vietnamese monk, an apostle of peace......isn't that lovely.... an apostle of peace. He writes: When I touch a flower, I touch the sun yet I do not get burned! When I touch a flower I touch a cloud flying to the sky. If you really touch a flower deeply, you touch the whole cosmos. ( Thich Nhat Hanh)
 Countless  'God connections ' and blessings are right at our finger tips anytime, any day, anywhere, just smell a  flower, just breath deeply the fresh clean  air, just listen to the bird singing.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Give thanks

O Lord how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions. Psalm 104:24
Take a look at everything that is in your field of vision and reflect. God made it all and what strikes me is that he is still making,creating and being extravagant.
Every new sunrise...every new day....the fresh shower of rain that transforms the dry and dusty roadside to yellows, blues and pinks of the wild flowers.The single bud on the rose bush alongside yesterdays full bloom, the tiny babies in the bird nest,
Constant, faithful, creating God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

powerful yet graceful.

I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Exodus 19:4
I was watching the baby sea eagle flying ever so gracefully back and forth on the sea breeze and the text from Exodus came to mind and I found myself thinking of all the times God has carried each one of us through the ups and downs of life. Just like he carried the Israelite's through the exodus, so he carries us. Each and every one of us who are true believers are  to him a 'treasured possession.'
Michael Joncas wrote: And God will raise you up on eagles' wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne,servant of the Lord.